Healing Touch
by Falling-Out-of-Reality
Summary: When Gemma becomes the Institute's newest student, she doesn't know what to expect. Unlikely friends, the perfect guy, and a certain blue skinned mutant who she can't stop thinking about is certainly not that. OC/Kurt
1. Gemma

**Hey Guys! This is my first FF story in X-Men so please let me know if you have any Critique and Review please! You don't even have to sign in! Thanks!**

**I do not own X-Men or Steak and Shakes. Both are Great though **

"_Do you even love me? Did you ever love me? Or was that all a lie, just like everything you else you've told me?" Cassandra accused Trevor, her bright blue eyes meeting his dark brown ones. Cassandra turned away biting her lip and tried to fight the tears that she knew were coming. Instead of him leaving like she expected he grabbed her shoulders and turned her towards him and drew Cassandra close. _

"_Cassandra ever since I've met you, my life has been a mess. But I can't imagine living any other way without you. When I say things I sometimes get carried away, but I've meant every word I've said to you," Trevor said studying her face, the face he needed. He tilted his face towards hers, pausing ever so slightly before finally leaning in to__**-**_

"GEMMA!"

Gemma whipped her head up out of her latest romantic novel and looked questioningly towards her elderly grandmother at the front of the store.

"Gemma," her grandmother called her voice hinting a slight polish accent, "I am not paying you to read your books and listen to your music! There are cans here that need stacking!"

"But you don't pay me!"Gemma called back smiling. Everyday her grandmother yelled at her for the same thing and every day she answered the same. Her grandmother shot her a look and hobbled to her office to continue doing paperwork.

"There will always be paperwork my Gem," she would say after a long day at the store "and I will always hate it. When you are older I will make you do it and you shall hate it to,"

Gemma rolled her eyes and began to wind her ear buds around her iPod. Her Grandmother of course had thought it was a waste paying so much money for it, but Gemma had saved up the money she made all last year and had been able to finally buy the latest generation. Slipping her the bright purple iPod into her apron- quite ugly thing that her grandmother forced her and the college boy Frank who worked there too to wear- she hopped off the seafood counter next to the lobster tank. It was her favorite spot in the small grocery store, because she enjoyed watching the lobsters attempt to break free to no avail.

As Gemma walked to the soup section to begin her slave labor, she couldn't help noticing how much the store hadn't seemed to change at all since she had been a child. Except for the one register that Frank usually manned and the lobster tank, everything was the same as it was when her Grandparents had bought the place when they first immigrated here from Poland. It was fun as a child to be able to tell her friends how her grandparents owned the local small grocery store. Now the grocery store was on the brink of bankruptcy and the only thing that kept the store alive was the lobsters. For some reason people in the small town couldn't get enough of the undersea critters.

To be fair they were the only store in town to sell them. We live in the suburbs by New York City, so a lot of people on their way home from work stop by for last minute things needed for dinner and lobsters. Gemma remembered how she named all of the lobsters when they first began selling them. She named them all after crushes and friends. But after a while Gemma would mix them up and eventually gave up naming them and called them all one name. You.

Snapped out of her memories, Gemma bent down on the old luminom tiles and began to put chicken noodle soup back onto the shelves. After a while she finally lost feeling in her legs and daydreamed, forgetting about the cans entirely

**xXx**

Gemma's cell phone rang around 6:30 and she looked at the caller ID. Claire, her super athletic and energetic best friend.

"Hey Claire. What's up?" Gemma asked still stacking and shelving. By now she had made it to Mushroom cream.

"Don't tell me. You forgot again didn't you," Claire huffed.

"No I didn't forget… What didn't I forget?"she asked. Gemma had no idea what she was talking about. Claire could be talking about a long lost relative's birthday to the shelter's annual "Spay and Neuter Your Pet Day!" And anything in between.

"School is in two weeks and you haven't come out to run all month! Remember, you said we'd go running once it wasn't so god awfully hot? Well it's not hot right now. Do you have clothes to change into," she asked. Then without bothering to hear her answer she said "Good. I'll be outside the store in 15. Be Ready!" and hung up. "So much for goodbye," Gemma thought shaking her head.

She stood up and felt all of the blood rush back to my legs. That felt good. And a little weird at the same time. Any more cut off circulation to her legs and she would live the rest of her life in a wheel chair. Luckily Gemma had a spare change of clothes for any just in case moments and I grabbed them from the office where my grandmother was still bent over paperwork.

"Grandma, I'm going running with Claire. She'll give me a ride back up to the house, okay?" she asked already walking out of her office.

"Alright, fine, fine, go. I was just about to close up the store anyways. Be safe Gem," Grandmother said waving her hand towards Gemma and not even turning away from the paperwork.

After stopping in one of the bathroom stall's to change into the work out shorts and a tye dye t-shirt she had brought, Gemma began to put her hair up into a ponytail while looking at her reflection in the cracked mirror, that her grandfather kept saying he would replace. "For 17, I'm not to tall, only 5'5, and my boobs could be a cup bigger," thought Gemma. Her hair was a curly light brown mess which reached a little farther down then her shoulders and her green-blue eyes looked wild. To top it all off, a few freckles were sprinkled over Gemma's nose and cheeks.

Overall, not to be vain, she thought she was pretty, but not gorgeus like Claire. Everyday Claire looked like she just came off a runway in Paris and had all of the boys drooling over her. Except she always made time for Gemma. She never became obsessed with popularity like some of our friends and was always nice.

Looking at the time on herphone, Gemma knew she would be here already leaning against the hood of one of her parents Mercedes. She half ran half walked out of the bathroom and to the doors of the store. They automatically opened to reveal Claire, her platinum blond hair up in a ponytail glaring at Gemma with puppy dog brown eyes.

"You're late," She growled in a way friends do to each other. Not that Claire would actually ever growl at someone on purpose.

"Oh shut up. Come on we're wasting daylight," I rolled my eyes and began jogging towards the setting sun. Sometimes Gemma wondered what it was like to be like Claire. To have loaded parents and not have a care in the world. Unlike her, she always felt weighted with her secret. She wondered if even Claire who liked everyone would still be her friend if she found out.

**xXx**

When Claire finally dropped Gemma off at her house it was 10:50. After their run they had stopped for shakes at Steak and Shakes. Claire ordered Strawberry and Gemma chose Chocolate as they always did. After talking and gossiping for nearly an hour, Gemma was ready for her soft bed. She undid the lock at the black iron gate and waved goodbye to her friend who flashed her lights and left.

Finally inside the house, Gemma tiptoed by her grandparents room and ran up the stairs to her own room. Only when she closed the door did she fall onto her bed in a heap. After a few minutes she got up and forced herself to change into her PJs. Her room wasn't anything special. It was eggshell white with a queen size bed in the center opposite a small T.V. The bed was covered in layers of soft blankets and quilts and was great for frosty mornings. By her window on the left side of her room she had a small desk cluttered with old school papers. She walked over to the window and opened it with a whoosh of cold air.

After changing she flipped on the 11 o'clock news and settled into her bed reading yet another romance story. Gemma couldn't get enough of them. Ever since she was little she has dreamed of true love and prince charming. She still did. Not that she ever told anyone, but she wondered where he was, right then. Was he wondering who she was to?

After changing positions on her bed she accidently turned up the volume of the TV. Grabbing the remote she was about to turn it down when she saw the headline:

**MORE MUTANT VIOLENCE & RIOTS AGAINST MUTANTS**

Leaning closer towards the TV, Gemma felt her stomach twist painfully as she watched a video of people rioting mutants in the streets of New York City.

"Today in New York City, several orginazations protested the legality of Mutants here in America and supported a new bill in Congress which would make all Mutants register with the police and local government," said the woman on the screen. "In the past few years Mutant violence against people has risen 35% and is still rising. Many people and government officials believe that the freedom we allow the Mutant's is to blame. The bill will be voted on next week,"

Gemma felt sick. As she put her book down she felt a sharp pain on her index finger. Papercut. Silently looking at her finger, Gemma saw it slowly repair itself and fade away.

What would people think if they knew what she could do? Gemma didn't want to know.

**No Kurt this chapter but he'll be in the next one I promise! Please Review! It just takes a second and means a lot!**

**If you want to know, I imagine Gemma looking like Alexa Davalos.**


	2. Claire

**Hey! Thanks to everyone who reviewed! It really did make me more encouraged to write. Keep it up and I'll have the next chapter up tomorrow! Thanks also for the critique! I have made sure that it doesn't happen again. So here you are! Voila!**

**I do not own X-Men, Professor Xavier, Storm, or Kurt Wagner. I do own Gemma, Claire and Connor **

"Claire, I have something to tell you," Gemma said looking at her carefree best friend who was changing the tuner on the radio as she drove.

"Don't tell me. You went to second base with Arthur didn't you? I knew it," Claire said.

"What? No I didn't-"Gemma got out before Claire interrupted.

"Hey it's nothing to be ashamed of. I mean I was hoping it was someone other than Arthur- do you remember that terrible rash he got last year all over his… yuck- but we've all been there," She said sympathetically taking a hand off the wheel to pat Gemma's arm.

"No I didn't- Wait you've… with who? And why didn't you tell me?" Gemma sputtered out a little hurt that Claire hadn't told her "Never mind, just shut up for a sec ok Claire? This is serious," Claire looked over at Gemma curiously. Gemma paused for a moment debating in her mind whether to tell her. But this was her best friend right? She would still lover her no matter who- or what- she was.

"Ok, just don't freak out ok? Right before my mom died, these strange things started happening to me. I never got sick, though I was really sick as a baby. Whenever I fell down, the scrapes would seem to dissolve back into my skin. Then one day I was riding my bike. Without a helmet. One minute I was riding my bike carefree, and then I was on the ground. There was so much blood," Gemma whispered looking down at her hands.

"My mom saw what had happened and rushed outside screaming my name. I can still hear her. When she got to me, she saw all of the blood in my hair and thought for sure I had cracked my head open. But when she saw the source of the blood, it was just a large pink scar that slowly faded away. It was then that we realized… I'm a mutant,"

"Sometimes whenever I get scared or my heart rate gets really high, I feel like there's something more, like I can do more, and I get so scared- I just…" Gemma said at a loss of words and looked over at her friend who she had known since she was 10. Claire was staring straight ahead at the road.

"Claire?" she asked her heart beating faster than usual. It was a moment before Claire said anything.

"So you're one of them?" she asked. Gemma thought she heard a slight hardness to her voice.

"One of who?" Gemma asked.

"One of those monsters you see on TV? You know the ones who kill little kids and people like **me**? You're a freak of nature!" Claire said her jaw clenched.

"Claire, no I'm not like those people on the news," Gemma said feeling like someone had kicked her. Claire laughed a menacing laugh.

"People? Those aren't people. They're not even human! And neither are you," Claire said her voice hard.

"Claire please, just listen to me," Gemma begged feeling tears brimming on her eyes. She reached a hand towards her friend who slapped it away.

"Don't you dare touch me you filthy-

**BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP**

Gemma groaned from underneath her pillow. Reaching one arm out, it took multiple tries before she finally hit the correct button that turned the incessant beeping off. Then it was quiet. Gemma laid in bed for a second thinking about the dream she had been having for awhile now. Gemma knew that she would eventually have to tell her friend about her powers but every time she thought about it she had the dream.

Sometimes the dreams were different thought. One time Claire crashed the car. In another she pulled out a knife. It wouldn't do any damage to Gemma really, but it would hurt like nothing you would believe. It would feel like dying.

"What day is it?" Gemma thought to herself still half asleep. One of the beauties of summer, you never know what day it is and you don't care. Except she had promise to run in the morning on Saturday with Claire at the park and she had a feeling that today was Saturday.

Finally peeking out from underneath her pillow she looked at the annoying alarm clock perched on the nightstand, to close to her head. 7:30. She still had an hour. But you won't believe how quickly an hour goes by.

It took Gemma another 15 minutes to get out of bed and onto the floor. After yet another 15 minutes, she found somewhat clean running clothes on her bedroom floor. Grabbing her socks and tennis shoes, she walked slowly down the stairs to the heavenly smell of bacon.

Which is where she found her Grandmother in the kitchen cooking the delicious food.

"Morning Grandma," Gemma said kissing her on the cheek, before making her way to the table, where her Grandfather sat reading the paper.

"Good morning Gemma. Why are you up so early? We usually don't see you until half the day is gone," Grandfather said smiling from behind the paper.

"Claire somehow convinced me to go running with her every day until school starts. To get us back into shape once Cross Country starts. Then it'll be two a day," Gemma groaned "Is there any coffee?"

Coming out of the kitchen with a platter of bacon and a cup of steaming coffee- with one spoon of sugar just like Gemma liked it- and gave her it. Gemma took a deep sip enjoying the warmth in her throat.

Her Grandfather took a sip of his own coffee- black, the way _he_ liked it- and asked "So any unusual dreams last night Gem?"

"I had the one with Claire. Where I tell her," Gemma said taking her spoon and stirring it around and around in her coffee. Silence from the table. Gemma looked up. Her Grandmother was frowning.

"Gemma how many times have we told you? You are not allowed to tell anyone what you can do. It is a blessing from the lord himself, but some people don't see it that way. Besides who knows what Claire would do- or who she would tell. Do you want what happened to your mother to happen to you?" Her Grandmother yelled.

"Grandma I didn't tell her it was just a dream! Besides she's my best friend. I don't want to lie to her," Gemma said her voice raised high.

"Lying is better than getting killed. You know what happens these days. Have you seen the news? There is more and more violence against the mutants and the police sit around and do nothing. Then they go around blaming them. I do not want you to become a story on the news Gemma. If we lost you…," her grandmother choked out the last part. Gemma didn't say anything. They were all the family that she had in the world and she was all theirs.

Her mother's death had hit them pretty hard. Their only daughter, who they had moved to this foreign land for in hopes of a better life for her, dead so young. All that was left was a mutant granddaughter. They fought with the police, who said that they were not doing enough about it, but it changed nothing. The police refused to investigate farther.

Gemma stood up and walked to her grandmother who stood up and hugged her tightly. Gemma was afraid that if anything did happen to her, it would kill them.

**xXx**

"About time Slowpoke!" Claire called seeing Gemma walk up the park trail. It had taken awhile to calm her grandmother down about the whole telling Claire thing but Gemma wasn't usually one for punctuality.

"Come on let's go. Cross Country begins in two weeks and I want to be at least a little ready," Claire said turning away and beginning to jogs down the trail. Gemma smiled and began to jog after her. Despite never being motivated to ever go out and run on her own, she found that running helped clear her mind. For one moment, Gemma didn't have to worry about being a mutant or her mother dying and just focused of the steady pit pat of her feet.

About 20 minutes into their run, Gemma was beginning to feel the soreness in her legs which was from being out of shape. They were also coming to her least favorite part of the trail. It zigzagged around and was covered with gravel. On the left side was a steep ledge with rocks and sharp sticks. It continued on for about 100 meters before the trail reunited with the trees. It would not be fun to fall down there.

"God, Gemma you have the slowest pace ever. Race you to the trees?" Claire grinned before sprinting down the gravel. Gemma would have ignored this but as she watched Claire, she suddenly fell out of sight with a scream. Gemma ran to the place where Claire had been, despite that sprinting on the gravel was ther reason why Claire had gone over the edge.

"Claire, Claire! Oh my god are you alright?" Gemma yelled as she got there. Peering over the edge she saw Claire on the ground sobbing. Her thigh looked like it had been attacked by a wild dog and there was blood. A lot of blood.

Gemma, carefully making her way down the dangerous terrain, finally reached Claire who was sobbing frantically. One look at her thigh up close and Gemma would be too in her situation. Gemma tried to calm Claire down and reached in her pocket for her cell phone hoping to call 911. But it was still in her car on her seat where she had left it.

Cursing Gemma called out for help, but no one came. Not many people came to this part of the park because of the hazard of falling. Gemma forced herself to look at Claire's thigh. It was bad. It would take a lot of stitches to fix. Gemma looked up at the hill, but there was no way that she could drag Claire up there and forget carrying her.

Gemma began to feel her heart speed up. What would she do? Her only option was to leave Claire and get help or-

Gemma stopped. No she couldn't. Grandmother would forbid it. But Claire needed her. She would understand right?

"Claire," Gemma said in a reassuring voice "I need you to move a little so I can get a better look at your thigh,"

"Oh god," Claire sobbed "It hurts so much,"

After moving Claire so that her thigh was parallel to the ground. Gemma placed both of her hands on the deep tear marks. Claire yelled out in pain but Gemma ignored her. Gemma took a deep breath and concentrated on Claire's wound. Slowly she could feel something, maybe energy, flowing down her arms and through her hands into the wound.

It was a minute before she felt the smoothness of new skin and Gemma removed her hands exhausted. She had healed herself before but never anyone else. An exhaustion swept over her and she could barely stand. Gemma sat down next to Claire who was realizing what had happened.

It was a few minutes before either did anything. Claire was still trying to figure out how Gemma had healed her by putting her hands on her wound and Gemma was trying to figure out if she had just made the biggest mistake of her life.

Finally feeling a little better Gemma asked "Do you think you can stand?" Claire nodded her head without a word and both stood up. Claire wobbled a bit, so Gemma put her arm around her neck, and helped her walk up the hill.

Once on the gravel again, Claire shrugged her arm off Gemma and began walking towards where they had come from. Gemma followed noticing how Claire kept feeling her thigh, still not believing it.

When they finally reached the parking lot Gemma started to say something but Claire beat her to it.

"Listen, I don't know what you are or who you are but.."

"Claire it's me. Gemma. Your best friend since 5th grade. Back there, what I did, I saved you Claire. So what if I'm a mutant," Claire winced at the word "but I'm still your best friend. And Claire if this had happened the other way round, I would still love you," Gemma told her, almost pleading. For a second, Claire didn't say anything.

"Goodbye Gemma," was all she said before walking away. Gemma reached for her and Claire winced. Gemma, tears streaming down her face, watched her best friend leave. She knew that their friendship would never be the same.

**xXx**

It was at that moment that Kurt Wagner and Storm were called into Professor Xavier's office.

"You needed to see us sir?" Storm asked the professor, who was staring out the window at a beautifully lush garden.

Kurt was very confused. He was rarely called into the Professor's office and even more rarely for a mission, which he had to assume was why he was there. He had been asked to teach art to the students at the institute and after all that they had done for them he could not turn it down. Not that he would want to. Art was something he loved to look at and ponder at what the Artist had been trying to say. Usually such things were pointless to many X-Men (Maybe just Wolverine), but it was a favorite of his. He had been in the middle of preparing the room that they had given him when Storm came to get him. They were both to report there immediately.

"Yes, there is a mutant girl not to far from here that I feel shall be needing our help soon. She trusted the wrong person with a secret of hers and it may be dangerous for her to stay there any longer. Try not to frighten her, she's already nervous about this situation," Professor Xavier said turning his wheel chair to face them.

Storm nodded and was about to leave when Kurt asked "Sir if you do not mind me asking, If you vish for us to not scare her, vhy am I going?"The Professor looked at Kurt.

Kurt had long ago accepted that the way he looked scared people, and did not understand why he was going.

"Well Kurt," the Professor began "I think that in this situation she would be more scared by say, Logan perhaps. He does have a temper. Oh and Storm take the car. I don't think her guardians would take to well to a jet in their yard,"

While Storm smiled and nodded, Kurt was imagining Logan unsheaving his metal claws in front of young girl. While this was very scary, at least he did not always have his claws out, unlike Kurt who always looked like a blue skinned demon. But he would not argue with the professor.

Sighing he said "Allvight, I vill help," and followed Storm out the door.

The professor watched them leave, with a smile on his face and wondered what this new mutant girl would bring to the Institute. He had been watching her for some time and he saw how more and more she had been tempted to test out what she could do. She was also scared by this.

Turning his wheelchair back to the window, he settled his eyes on the garden and the hills beyond. He knew that she would be safe here. That was why he had created the institute. A safe haven for mutants who needed it. And this girl would need it.

**xXx**

After walking around the park for a few hours, still numb from what had happened, Gemma made her way to her car. Once inside she put her hands on the wheel and rested her head against them. What had she done? She had trusted Claire with her secret and now who knew who she was telling.

Lifting her head she noticed her hands were red with Claire's blood. The feeling of being kicked in the stomach returned and Gemma cried for a few minutes. "God I'm pathetic," she thought to herself as she wiped away a tear. Suddenly her cell phone buzzed from the seat next to her. Grabbing it she didn't even have to guess who it was.

"Hey Grandma," Gemma said into the phone.

"Gemma Louise Michaels, what have you done? Claire's parents called me an hour ago, telling me that they were going to sue us for using your mutation on their daughter! How stupid are you to-

This continued on for a few minutes and finally Gemma found an opening.

"Grandma I'm so sorry, it was a freak accident I-I didn't know what to do," Gemma said feeling the tears well up in her eyes again. "Damn it!" she thought biting her lip.

After a second and a sigh from the other end her Grandmother said "It is alright my Gem. Come to the Store immediately. We will decide our next move from there," They said their goodbyes and Gemma hung up.

A few minutes later Gemma pulled up to the little collection of stores where theirs was. It was surprisingly busy, so Gemma parked behind in the alleyway. Getting out of her car, she shut the door with a large thud and made her way for the front of the stores.

Standing on the sidewalk in front of her was a shadowed figure. Walking a little closer she realized it was Connor, Claire's on and off boyfriend from the school year. Though they hadn't talked much, they were in the same group of friends, so therefore they were friends by association.

"Hey Connor!" Gemma said trying to fake a happy tone and dug her blood covered hands into her coat pockets.

"Shut up! I know what you did to Claire. She called me an hour ago crying about what you did to her. You were always jealous of her weren't you? I always thought so, but I didn't know it was enough to push her over the ledge," He said viscously.

"What? I didn't push her over the ledge. Who told you that?" Gemma asked. She never had really liked Connor. Despite the association thing, Claire would always tell her what a womanizer he was.

"Yeah like I'd believe a mutant. You hurt her, so now I'm gonna teach you a lesson," Connor said menacingly. Then he pulled out a knife.

A scream was caught in Gemma's throat and she backed away as Connor took a step closer. "Oh my god he's insane" was all she could think. Gemma knew that even if he did stab her she would just heal, but at the moment she blanked and couldn't think.

"Get away from me Connor," Gemma squeaked. He laughed and started closing in on her.

10 steps away. 8 steps. 5 steps. 2. Then he was right there. He pulled his arm back and

"No!" Gemma screamed with all of her might and threw her hands in front of her, in some attempt of self defence. What happened next Gemma had no control over. She didn't even realize it happened until Connor had hit the brick wall.

"You stupid mutant bitch!" he yelled picking up his knife he had dropped. Then he turned and ran. Gemma looked at her hands and wondered what had happened.

**So Kurt was here but only for a little bit. He will be heavily in the next chapter Once again it only takes a minute to review but it makes the chapters come even faster. More tomorrow! **

**~Lauren**


	3. Grandmother

**A/N: Hi everyone! Thank you so much for the reviews! They really help power me on to keep writing. So you people who just Story Alert please drop me a review! You have no idea how much I enjoy them! Sorry this one is so late! I have been insanely busy.**

**I do not own X-Men or any characters. If I did there would be more and better done movies.**

When Gemma had gotten home the day before, she hadn't told her grandmother about Connor and the knife. She did tell her about Claire. How she had used her curse to help Claire when she had been badly hurt. Her Grandmother sat there; her blue eyes sad watching Gemma and said nothing. Gemma was grateful of that.

Gemma kept returning to the moment she reached out for Claire at the parking lot. Gemma had seen it in her eyes. Fear. Claire was scared to death of Gemma and that fear had or would become anger. Somewhere Gemma remembered reading something that said that people were scared and hated what they couldn't understand. Boy was that right.

Gemma wondered if the violence on the news had started this way. What if a mutant had tried to help before, but the people acted first and asked questions later? Did they try to make it look like the mutant had done something wrong? Gemma wondered if this would happen to her. Would they be outside soon on the front lawn with pitchforks and torches?

Gemma fled to her room and slammed the door shut, not caring about the noise. She walked over to her window to shut out the cold air, when she saw a frame sitting on her desk. It was a recent picture of Claire and Gemma arms wrapped around each other. On the frame it said "Friends Forever".

Gemma stared at the photo with her stomach twisting and anger brimming over. She was tired of feeling weepy and caring about poor old Claire, while Claire was stabbing her in the back. Did she know what this would do to her? A surge of rage ran through Gemma and she threw the photo at the wall as hard as she could screaming.

The next ten minutes were spent throwing everything Claire had ever given her out the window or at the wall. Ten minutes of screaming and letting all of her anger out. When she was done, Gemma knelt down to the ground and began to sob, until her eyes were bright red and her head ached. She crawled over to her bed and buried herself under the blankets.

That's where she spent most of the night, half sleeping-half awake until around midnight the phone rang. Claire reached out for her old fashioned landline and brought it to her ear about to speak when her grandmother beat her to it.

"You better have a reason for calling me at midnight," she barked into the phone. Despite everything that had happened, Gemma cracked a smile. Your typical hello from her grandmother.

"Ma'am this is Lieutenant Dan here. I'm currently at your store right now, your alarm system went off about ten minutes ago and when we got here there was a whole lot of damage," said the deep voice of the Lieutenant.

"What type of damage sir?" Grandmother asked, not letting on any surprise in her voice.

"Well all of the windows were broken with bricks we found at the scene. Tied to the bricks were… well very unsettling messages Ma'am. There was also excessive graffiti over, well everywhere Ma'am. Your tank for lobsters, I'm afraid, was also destroyed," He said in a grave voice.

"Well what about the lobsters Lieutenant?" Grandmother asked her voice as hard as steel.

"The what?"

"The lobsters Lieutenant. I want to know if those bastards left them there to die a slow death or if they stole them," She answered matter of factly.

"I'll have one of my men check into it," the Lieutenant responded surprised by the question.

"So you don't know Lieutenant, whether or not if our valuable lobsters were stolen? Was anything else taken?" Grandmother asked.

"I'd have to check-

"So you don't even know? And let me guess you don't have any suspects?" She demanded.

"None so far, but we have reason to believe that mutants were behind-

"Dan, if I may call you that, it sounds like you have no idea what this is about so you're blaming people because of your own prejudices," Grandmother asked.

"Ma'am we have much evidence that-

"Let me guess. Were the messages tied to the bricks about mutants?"

The Lieutenant was silent.

"Sir, why would mutants vandalize a store with messages about mutant hate? It makes no sense to me. If I must be frank sir, I believe that this attack was brought on because my granddaughter is a mutant. And if you will not do this case fairly with justice because your blinded with the idea that they are devils, then I must ask that you to pass it along to someone a little smarter. Good bye Lieutenant," Grandmother said and hung up on him.

Gemma sat there with her hand holding the phone stunned. When she had imagined what would happen when people found out she was a mutant, she never imagined that people would attack the store. Her grandparents had spent most of their lives owning and fixing the place up, to be a decent store. It was their life, their pride and joy.

It was now ruined all because of her. More tears began to fall down her face. She didn't even try to pretend to be asleep when her grandmother walked in. She was back in her clothes from that day and was wearing a poker face, looking as hard as ever. But when she saw her granddaughter, tears dripping off her nose something inside her broke.

"You were listening weren't you?" she asked. Gemma looked up and nodded. Her eyes were bright red and her face was blotchy. Grandmother walked over to the bed, sat down and held Gemma in her arms.

"It's alright Gem. Everything will be ok," her Grandmother said in the most reassuring voice she could muster.

"It won't be. This is just the beginning. I did this. All I've ever done in my whole life is hurt the people I most care about. I wish- I wish I was dead!" Gemma sobbed into her shoulder.

"Do not say things like that. Gem you are the most important thing in my life. None of this was your fault. This was stupid people, doing stupid things, for stupid reasons," her grandmother said sternly looking Gemma in the eye.

"It will only get worse," Gemma hiccupped.

"It may. But now you can finally be yourself my Gem. No holding anything back," her Grandmother smiled. There was a moment of silence before her grandmother shifted and put Gemma back down on the bed.

"Your Grandfather and I are going down to the store. Try to get some sleep,"

With that her grandmother was gone. Gemma wiped her nose and returned to the safety of the quilts.

**xXx**

A few minutes later Gemma decided that she probably wouldn't be sleeping the rest of the night and got out of bed. After draping her favorite blanket around her shoulders she walked out of her room, down the stairs, and into the kitchen flipping on the light. After much stumbling around and looking in the fridge at what they had, she decided to make coffee and waited for it to be ready. Once it was done she poured it into her mug, added sugar, and sat down at the table.

She stared at the wall which was covered with an assortment of things. Mostly picture frames but also wall decorations. One of the photos was of Gemma and her mother. It was a year before the accident, before the powers, before everything. Her mother's face was worn but beautiful, with dark hair tumbling over her shoulders. Her arms were slung around Gemma from behind and Gemma was smiling at her mother when the photo was taken. Gemma bit her lip and blocked out the memories of her mother.

Bringing the mug to her mouth, Gemma took a large gulp of the scalding coffee. Gemma fell into her thoughts and wasn't sure how long it had been before there was a loud knock at the door. It was loud and urgent and it certainly brought her out of her daydreams. Rushing to the door, she knew it must have been her grandmother who had probably forgotten her key to let herself in or some other thing. Opening the door at once she knew that she was wrong.

Standing in the doorway was a mocha skin colored woman with long extremely white hair, with a few gray streaks despite the fact that she was only about 30. Gemma was about to slam the door and run back up to her room when the woman spoke.

"I'm sorry for coming by so late, but I saw the light and well I think the sooner we talked the better," the woman smiled with bright white teeth.

"Who are you? And what do you want?" Gemma said bluntly, not caring if she was rude.

"My name is Ororo Munroe. I'm a teacher at Xavier's Institute for Higher Learning," she said unfazed.

Gemma looked her up and down and noticed the sleek shiny car behind the woman. Definitely not bought on a teacher's salary.

"Well, I'm sorry but you need to leave**. Now**," Gemma said and began to close the door when the woman shouted "Wait!"

Gemma hesitated and the woman took advantage of it.

"You don't have to be afraid. I'm not here to hurt you. I know you're scared but you can trust me. I know you're a mutant and so am I," the woman said trying to reassure Gemma.

"Prove it," was all Gemma said.

"I'd rather not," the woman said "And it would be easier for me to explain it and why I'm here to you,"

Gemma was still debating on trusting her gut, which said she was telling the truth, or her head, which told her to lock the door and run, when there was a loud _**BAMF**_ from behind her. Choking on smoke that had appeared with the noise, she fell into a figure that caught her with strong arms.

"I can prove it _Fräulein_," said the voice holding her. Still slightly blinded from the smoke, Gemma wrenched herself away from the figure and backed up to the wall knocking a frame to the ground.

"Just stay back!" Gemma shouted holding her hands in front of her, like she had before with Connor. She wasn't sure if she could do it again, but she could try. Focusing on the figure that had caught her, she gasped.

He was … _blue_. Gemma had known that mutants sometimes had different skin colors but she had never seen it in person. All over his face were lines and drawings that Gemma wondered what their purpose was. But besides being blue and having a tail, Gemma was most surprised by his bright yellow eyes staring back into hers. They held onto her blue ones and didn't let go.

The woman walked into the house and looked sternly at the blue mutant.

"We're trying not to scare her remember?" the woman-Ororo- said to the blue mutant.

She turned around and said "It's all right Gemma. He's with me; we're not going to hurt you. We want to protect you," and although her brain was screaming for her to call the police, Gemma didn't. The woman and blue mutant had had plenty of time to hurt her by now, but they woman had done nothing, besides surprise her. So far.

"How do you know my name? And who's he?" Gemma asked nodding her head at the blue mutant who was curiously watching her. The woman looked at the blue mutant and nodded.

"I am Kurt Vagner. Or you may call me de Nightcrawler, for dat is vhat they called me in de Munich circus," the Mutant said and Gemma realized that his accent was German.

"Es tut mir leid, I did not mean to scare you," he added sheepishly.

It was then that Gemma finally lowered her arms. She looked at Kurt and Ororo several times before asking "Would you like some coffee?"

**xXx**

It turned out that Kurt really, really liked coffee. By the time Ororo- Storm- had finished explaining the school, Gemma had refilled Kurt's cup four times.

"Do they not have coffee at this school of yours?" Gemma joked and Storm smiled. Kurt oblivious just said thank you- or at least what Gemma assumed was thank you. She had only taken French in school. He continued to stare at her, with a strange look on his face, and Gemma found herself glancing at him when she felt his eyes.

"So what do you think?" Storm asked.

Gemma picked up her coffee and looked at the brochure. Its cover showed a beautiful mansion with sprawling grounds. The insides explained how the school and been founded as a safe haven for mutants and a place for the teenage ones to get schooling. They had many classes, not as many as her high school, but enough. To be quite honest she had no idea what to think. It had all happened so suddenly. A safe place for teenage mutants to go to school? As if they were normal?

_As if __**we **__were normal,_ Gemma corrected herself. She was one of them now. A minority in a world of majorities. Surprisingly she had never thought of herself that way.

"I don't know. My grandparents could never afford this school, if it even exists like you say it does," Gemma said shaking her head doubtfully.

"Professor Xavier, he's the man who owns the school, created it to help people like us learn to control our powers, so that they don't control us. Over time he began having them learn real world skills. Your grandparents wouldn't have to pay a cent for you to go here," Storm explained.

"And this Professor Xavier, he's a mutant to?" Gemma asked wondering what type of man had the resources to run this type of school.

"Yes, he has mind abilities, like telepathy," Storm said.

"That's being able to read people's minds, right?" Gemma asked.

"Dat is correct Gemma," Kurt answered for Storm.

"So you're both teachers at this school?" Gemma asked.

"Yes, I teach English and French and Kurt teaches Art," Storm answered.

"You teach art?" Gemma mused turning to look at Kurt.

"Vhy is everyone so surprised? Dere is so much to art dat you do not know," Kurt said shaking his head.

"So what can you do?" Gemma asked Storm changing the subject.

"Well, I can control the weather with my mind," Storm answered as she watched Gemma's eyes get big "and Kurt can teleport, as you found out tonight,"

"_Weather manipulation? Teleportation?" _Gemma thought to herself. Her powers were nothing compared to these.

"Vhat can you do?" Kurt asked, snapping Gemma out of her thoughts.

"Don't you know?" Gemma asked. If they already knew her name and where she lived, shouldn't they know what she could do?

"The Professor never told us," Storm answered. Despite having seen hundreds of mutants, Storm was always curious about new and different mutations that she had never seen before.

"Well there's one thing that's been happening ever since- I mean for a while now, where I can heal myself without even doing anything. I can also heal other people except, it takes a lot out of me," Gemma said thinking _"And it also makes people who you heal hate your guts,"_

"Oh! Like how Logan can heal himself," Kurt said.

"Who's Logan?" Gemma asked.

"He's the combat teacher at the school. For now that is. He never stays in one place to long," Storm answered.

"Do you alzo have claws?" Kurt asked grabbing her hand and examining it.

"Um no, at least I don't think so," Gemma answered confused but didn't move her hand.

"Is dere anyding else you can do?" Kurt asked.

"Well the other day when… um," Gemma said suddenly aware that she didn't really know exactly how to explain what she had done.

"When what?" Storm pushed.

"When this guy I went to school with pulled out a knife at me," Gemma said quietly staring down at her coffee.

"He pulled a knife on you?" Storm asked surprised. Anger flooded through her. How _could people hate us so much?_ She asked herself. She was glad the professor had sent them down to get this girl. IF this was beginning to happen, there was no telling what was next.

" It's not a big deal. He didn't get me or anything. He was coming at me and I raised my hands like this," Gemma said drawing her hand away from Kurt's and demonstrated. "And I just sort of…" and with a splintering crash Kurt's empty mug went flew to the wall and broke. Gemma gasped and lept up.

"I'm so sorry I-I didn't mean to," Gemma sputtered beginning to pick up the pieces of glass carefully so that she didn't cut herself. Not that it would have mattered anyways.

Storm knelt down by Gemma and began to help her pick up the pieces, when she noticed the girl was crying.

"Hey it's alright. Everything's going to be alright," she said helping Gemma up.

"I'm sorry I've just been such a mess lately," Gemma apologized wiping her eyes.

"It's alright. So you have healing abilities and maybe telekinesis? Try to move something with your mind, like my mug," Storm asked.

Gemma took a quick glance at Kurt who was watching her intently. With a deep breath she willed the mug to move upwards. It didn't move.

"So maybe not telekinesis. Maybe you can project shields towards things?" Storm said looking at Gemma. "Professor Xavier will be able to tell you more when you see him,"

"So is this school as good as you say it is? You really think I should go?" Gemma asked.

Instead of Storm answering, it was Kurt.

"Dis school was de best ding dat had happened do me since the Munich Circus. You are how dey say One Big Family," Kurt smiled revealing rows of sharp pointed teeth.

Gemma took a deep breath. "I don't know I'd have to talk to my…" but trailed off when she saw a figure behind Kurt.

"Grandma… you're back already?" Gemma asked confused and looked at the clock. It said in boxy numbers 2:34 a.m.

"Who the hell are you?" her Grandmother said glaring furiously at Kurt who looked as though he wanted to teleport right out of there.

"Grandma," Gemma said taking steps towards Kurt and put her hand on his arm "they're friends. They're mutants… like me," Gemma's Grandmother didn't look convinced.

"You must be Ms. Michaels? My names is Ms. Munroe, I'm a teacher at a special school for teenage mutants," Storm said holding her hand out and smiling a mega watt smile. Gemma's Grandmother didn't shake it.

"What do you want?" She asked.

"Well we learned from our headmaster that Gemma would be great for our school and it's a safe place for people like Gemma and I, so that things like what happened to her yesterday don't happen again," Ms. Storm said never faltering.

Gemma's Grandmother's face changed and she spun around to Gemma. "Something happened yesterday?"

"It was nothing big Grandma, just some guy from my school was trying to scare me," Gemma said.

"He tried to scare you? How?," Her Grandmother said shifting her glare from the blue mutant standing in her kitchen to her granddaughter.

"It's not important how," Gemma said.

"Did he touch you?" her grandmother said in almost a whisper.

"No Grandma-

"He put his filthy hands on you didn't he? That's it I'm calling the police," Her grandmother yelled and grabbed the phone sitting in the charger.

"No Grandma that will just make things worse!" Gemma screamed and tried to wrestle the phone away from her.

It was Storm or Ms. Munroe who separated them and grabbed the phone from Gemma, who had wrangled it from her grandmother.

"Mrs. Michaels, please we only want to talk about Gemma. This school would be a safe place for her to live and you wouldn't have to worry," Storm said. Gemma's grandmother looked as Storm for a moment before sighing.

"Tell me about this school then," she said defeated.

**xXx**

Gemma's grandmother had sent Gemma out of the room while she talked to Storm and Kurt followed her out.

"Perhaps you should begin do pack your dings," Kurt suggested quietly to Gemma.

"You'd take me there tonight?" Gemma asked surprised.

"Of course," Kurt answered.

"But my grandma hasn't even agreed yet," Gemma said.

"She vill doh. She loves you and she vill vant you do be safe. De Institute is dat. She vill agree," Kurt said looking Gemma in the eye and for some reason Gemma blushed. Without saying anything to Kurt she made her way upstairs and to her closet. After digging through it for a moment, she found her duffel bags that she had used for camping trips.

Gemma didn't know how long she would be at this school so she packed long term, putting in winter clothing as well as her summer stuff. Soon one bag was full and she moved onto her second one. When her drawers were empty, she put her personal belongings into the bag as well. Photo albums and other miscellaneous things soon found a home in the bag with her clothes.

After filling three bags with her things, she finally felt like she had packed everything that she would need. If she forgot something her grandmother could always send it to her. Surveying the room once again, her eyes fell on the picture frame that she had thrown earlier. It was smashed pretty badly and it seemed that only the photo had survived. She walked over to it and was about to bend down to pick it up when someone knocked at the door.

"Come in," said Gemma. It was Kurt who came in and only then was it that Gemma really looked at what the Blue mutant was wearing. Despite that it had been a sweltering summer Kurt wore a black trench coat over layered clothing. His hair, also blue, was messy. This made her smile.

"Your Grandmother has agreed to allow you to come vith us," Kurt said. Gemma raised her eyebrows.

"That was quick," she said looking at her clock which showed that only an hour had passed. Gemma walked over to her bags and struggled to pick them all up.

"Here let me help," Kurt said and picked up two of her bags. Gemma smiled again and said a quick thank you. Picking up her purse, she began to make her way out of the room and down the stairs.

Kurt though, who had begun to follow her out, paused by the door. He had seen the smashed frame that Gemma had thrown. He picked up the photograph and saw two girls, one was Gemma and the other a blonde laughing. Kurt folded the picture and put it in his pocket.

**xXx**

When Kurt teleported to the front of the house, he saw Gemma in a tight embrace with her grandmother who both appeared to be crying. Kurt was touched by how much the old woman cared for the girl. When the both let go, the old woman said something to her and pressed something into her hand. Gemma nodded with tears streaming down her face.

Storm stood by Gemma and began to lead her away to the sleek Mercedes, one of the many cars that were at the institute. Kurt put the rest of Gemma's bags into the trunk and helped her into the car. He was going to shut the door a get into the passenger seat, but on a whim sat next to Gemma.

Gemma who stared silently out the window at her grandmother as they pulled away from the small house on the corner of the street. Every once in a while Storm would glance in the rearview mirror to look at her, but she just stared out the window.

"It was all my fault you know," she said so quietly that Kurt almost hadn't heard her. Gemma looked tearfully at him and Kurt was at a loss of words. He had met this girl less than two hours ago, he did not know how to comfort her. Yet there was something about the girl that made him feel as though he should try.

"Shh. It is alright _Fräulein,_" He whispered back.

"No," she said shaking her head "I could have stopped this. But I didn't. And now…" and the tears began to fall once more.

Kurt had no idea what he was doing but suddenly he had pulled the girl in an embrace to comfort her as she sobbed into his shoulder.

_God_, he thought to himself, _please help this girl. She has lost so much today, she needs you now more than ever._

He looked up at Storm, but she was staring at the road and dawn ahead. What Kurt didn't see when he looked back at the girl in his arms was the small smile on Storm's face.

**I cannot stress enough. PLEASE REVIEW! **

**Thank you!**


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